A close up of a female Hooded Merganser at sunrise.
Canon 1D MarkIII
Canon 500mm F/4 IS
1/250s
F/5.6
ISO 200
Hand Held
Thanks for looking :)
Mike Veltri
Female Hooded Merganser
A close up of a female Hooded Merganser at sunrise.
Canon 1D MarkIII
Canon 500mm F/4 IS
1/250s
F/5.6
ISO 200
Hand Held
Thanks for looking :)
Mike Veltri
Exquisite portrait Mike; dark, mysterious, yet perfectly exposed. The water droplet is the icing on this cake! :)
Nicely done, good HA, angle and pose. the water droplet on the beak makes this for me.
beautiful details , nice pose and water drop adding much here
TFS
Wonderful portrait Mike of a very sweet and beautiful bird. Nit wise the biggest thing that hit me is that the crop is too tight. I fthink it looks too oversharpened also on my monitor, as her feathers almost look like needles. I feel that for a female, she should look softer and gentle to the "touch". Maybe also bring up the midtones as she overall looks to be as dark as everything else. This would also mellow out the contrast between the highlights on the individual feathers and the darker parts of the feathers which would lessen the needle effect. This would then give some separation from the bg plus brighten up the mood of the shot. The reflection in her eye is wonderful, as is the water drop. A really dramatic looking portrait worth tweaking to see what else youi could pull out of it.
Paul
Hi Mike: Fabulous shot of the hen and the rusty brown overall color is unique and special. This is as nice as any Ducks Unlimited post card I have ever seen. I do have one problem w/the image and that is that I think I can see you taking the photo in the reflection of her eye.... Just Kidding!!
Bonjour Mike,
great shot, I like the mood and the warm color.
Roger
A beautiful image. I love the pose, the dark light yet great detail make this special. I also love the water drop.
Loved the low-key treatment here. The water droplet adds a ton to the image. Fabulous work here.
Sharpness looks spot on to me and I love the mood this image conveys. I like everything about this.
Your kidding right?Originally Posted by paul leverington
The water drop really adds to an already great image! I also like the complimentary BG.
Sharpening wise Mike could be in the jpeg process, so generally I don't put too much weight on that kind of thing generally cause the tiff could be perfect. But on my 2560X1600 it does look overdone --mostly on the breast area. Other stuff may or may not work for you, or at all--just some ideas to throw at you. The repost here was with a levels whitepoint adjustment with the slider and a slight lower midtone boost with curves, both done selectively -mostly on the bird. Gives an idea of what I was thinking--again may not be to anyones liking I realize. No canvas to play with the crop so I can't see what that would do.
Paul
Last edited by paul leverington; 11-24-2009 at 07:47 PM.
Thanks Paul, but I always thought it a little brash that others repost peoples photos to their likings.
I welcome the critiques, but never understood this. I don't see much difference in your edit.
Also the image is a bit brighter on my web site than on BPN.
Cheers
Mike
Outstanding detail and low angle very nicely captured Mike.
Mike--I didn't take the time to write a comment, or download the picture and work on it, and then repost it, for my benefit. I did it for you. And as I understand it, this is what the whole site is about. To get critque and fresh eyes on my stuff I need to participate in doing that for others. There are plenty of showcase sites out there otherwise. Reposting says visually what the commenter would need to use a lot of words to do otherwise. But if that's not welcome with you no problem here on my end. But you should state up front in your original posts "reposts not appreciated" and if you don't want critques state that also. As I stated, I felt you had a wonderful picture and suggested a few tweaks. If that bothers you so much then I wonder if you really welcome critique at all in the first place. No problem in this if this is so--but why should I put my time somewhere where it's not wanted? I wouldn't and I won't.
Paul
Last edited by paul leverington; 11-25-2009 at 08:03 AM.
Mike:
You have a very nice image, but everyone who posts here should expect to have critiques of their images. This site is not designed to be a "great shot" type of location.
Paul made some thoughtful comments, took the time to present you with some options that he felt worked. It of course is up to you to make the final decision, but please take any comments given as constructive ideas.
We all learn a lot more if our ears and eyes remain open.
Randy
Hi Mike,
I do see a subtle difference and I feel it works in this case. You have to remember that sometimes that isn't so...but we all learn from this in some way.....what to try or what not to do! Just something to keep in mind.
All that being said.....outstanding capture! I love the darker BG and the way it makes the crown stand out. Water droplet puts it over the top!
Fantastic image, Mike! All the things mentioned are spot on!
As a side note, I think Paul is one the best CC folks on this forum and appreciate the time he takes to comment in a thoughtful manner. I'm sure he didn't have any intentions of upsetting you so group hug now. :)
Hi Mike. The low angle gives you a really intimate portrait, and I like the overall darkness of the image. The pose is excellent and the droplet of water adds to the image. I find the bird a little tight in the frame.
Regarding the critique by Paul, I found it to be thoughtful and very well stated. He made some suggestions and attempted a repost of an image that he clearly liked. We encourage exactly that sort of thing on BPN. It's how many of us learn how to become better bird photographers and image processors. I agree with Randy's statement about keeping our eyes and our ears open.
Thanks for sharing an excellent image!
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Thanks Randy, maybe I sounded a bit harsh. This is not the first post and I am always open to suggestions, and would not post on this forum if I was not looking for constructive comments. I just don't see why some folks on this forum seem to take it upon themselves to edit other peoples photos. I would rather the suggestions, than the edits and that's just me.
I have seen it many times before and just don't understand it. My comment "your kidding" was more aimed at this line from Paul.
I feel that for a female, she should look softer and gentle to the "touch".
My photography is done for fun, and I am always willing to learn from others. And I have always appreciated the comments good or bad. There are times though that I have felt that people have to find faults on this board, more than others. I take everything with a grain of salt, as it often depends on who is critiquing the image if I pay any attention to the critique.
Mike
Great come back Mike, maybe I should pay a bit more attention and post more often here.
Paul has some outstanding photos posted on this board.
Thanks for the comments Doug, I did not think for a moment that Paul did not like the image and was only making suggestions. I guess having images snatched and reposted elsewhere on the web without my permission, gets my Italian blood boiling when I see people edit other peoples photos. I did not know that it was encouraged on BPN.
I guess I may owe Paul an apology, but I am not going to hug him as suggested by Mike :D
Thanks for the smile. :)
Oh come on....one little hug! ;)
Upcoming Workshops: Bosque del Apache 2019, Ecuador 2020 (details coming soon)
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Oooh! This is taking a twisted turn! Now that's funny Doug!
Mike::
There are multiple reasons to do a repost
1) The old saw 'a picture is worth a thousand words' does apply here
2)Some of the less experienced folks might have trouble visualizing what the suggested changes will look like
3)The reposter gains a better appreciation for the original, and can improve their own skills working on someone else's images, because
4)We have all worked so hard on one of our own images that we are no longer able to objectively evaluate it, and can benefit from seeing someone else's take on it
So, I think reposts are a strong component of this site. I probably repost more than the average member, and hope to help the original poster at times, help others, and it always helps me improve too. Hard to beat that.
Cheers
Randy
I'm alright without the hugs...no problemo...but thanks for the thought.
All right, I'll give the first hug. Hug.
Mike, in case you missed it, I've copied BPN Guideline #6 below.
Guideline #6: By posting images to BPN you give the BPN staff, users and members permission to download and modify any image submitted for critiquing. The sole purpose for downloading an image is so that it can be modified for instructional purposes only and then be re posted in the original thread. The photographer is the copyright owner and retains all rights. Modified images may not be used for any purpose other than for instructional use at BPN.
Suggestions that "re-posts are not appreciated" are not appreciated.:)
If a BPN member wants to avoid the possibility of a re-post, they should avoid posting.(I couldn't resist).
Well done re-posts can help the original photographer(as well as all viewing) understand the point being made and learn from it. When properly answered, poorly done re-posts will help the re-posting member and others improve as well.
Win-Win / Hug-Hug
James
Thanks Randy for the info, it's appreciated.
Thanks James, I was never one to read instructions and have never read the guidlines. :)
A PM was sent to Paul before the last few posts, as I did not know of Guidline #6 :D
What a great Hobbie eh!
This is superb Mike. Love the low angle pose and details. The water drop really adds.
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